Indefinite solitary confinement unconstitutional, B.C. judge rules

A B.C. Supreme Court judge has struck down a law that permits federal prisons to put inmates into solitary confinement indefinitely.

Justice Peter Leask says the practice of isolating prisoners for undefined lengths of time is unconstitutional, but he suspended his decision for 12 months to give the government time to deal with its ramifications.

The B.C. Civil Liberties Association and the John Howard Society filed the legal challenge in 2015, calling solitary confinement a cruel and inhumane punishment that can lead to severe psychological trauma and suicide.

The Crown argued the practice is a reasonable and necessary when prisoners pose a threat to others or are at risk of being harmed by the general prison population.

The federal government introduced a bill in June that would set an initial time limit for segregation of 21 days, with a reduction to 15 days once the legislation is law for 18 months.

The government tried to stop the trial, saying the legislation would impose a time limit on solitary confinement terms.

Leask concluded that prolonged confinement places all federal inmates in significant risk of serious psychological harm, including mental pain and suffering, and puts them at increased risk of self-harm and suicide.

Leask wrote that while many acute symptoms are likely to subside when prisoners are brought out of segregation, “many inmates are likely to suffer permanent harm as a result of their confinement.”

Jay Aubrey, a staff lawyer with the association, said for prisoners who have gone through solitary confinement, the decision means: “What’s been done to you is very, very wrong.”

The indeterminate length of administrative segregation is especially problematic because it “exacerbates its painfulness, increases frustration and intensifies the depression and hopelessness that is often generated in the restrictive environments that characterize segregation,” the decision says.